


You'll Be My King

by TheDragonQueen



Category: Cinderella (2015), Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Disney - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 12:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3650727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonQueen/pseuds/TheDragonQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <pre>lavender’s green, dilly dilly, lavender’s blue
if you love me, dilly dilly, i will love you.</pre><p>a fic about ella during the days the king sought the princess with the glass slipper</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Be My King

She spent the next few days crying.  It was all she could do.  She cried over the beautiful footwear, wonderfully crafted by her fairy godmother.  She cried over the fact that she will never see Kit again.  She cried for lost love and she cried because she was so close to having someone to love again.  But mostly, she cried for herself.  For all those reasons and more.  She lost the people she’d loved most in the world.  And she’d tried so hard to be kind; even to those who were nothing but cruel.  She cried because it was the only thing left she could do and the only thing left she wanted to do.

Long after her tears had dried up, Ella continued to mourn.  She didn’t know when she’d ended up on the floor, she only remembered all her energy leaving her at one point.  She didn’t know how much time had passed, either.  It hardly seemed important.  Her eyes fell on the shattered shards of her slipper, left broken upon the floor.  It really had been so beautiful; and comfortable.  And it had been the one piece of magic that had remained long past midnight.  One last gift from her fairy godmother.  A physical memory, a keepsake, of her night of magic and love and dancing.

And now there was nothing left but tiny, fractured pieces.

Ella spent another couple days simply laying there, unable to tear her gaze away from the broken pieces of the glass slipper nor her memories of what Lady Tremaine had done.  A part of her wanted to get mad, be angry, hate.  But for whatever reason, those feelings wouldn’t stay with her.  It seemed she didn’t have it in her to truly feel such things.

But as she sat there, she realized that she had more than just the slipper.  She had the memories of the night she wore it.  The glass may be broken, but those memories could never be shattered.  With that realization came a sort of transformation.  It was not an outward change, but new nonetheless.  Never before her stepmother had she wanted to be angry, so she did not know what to do with such emotions.  But now she knew that she could take them and turn them into something else:

Courage.

She took all of the fleeting anger and pain that wouldn’t go away - and yet wouldn’t unleash itself, either - and she did with it the one thing she could do.  She allowed it to strength her, her resolve and her courage.

With newfound purpose, Ella rose to her hands and knees and made her way to the broken glass.  Carefully, delicately, she picked up each and every piece and placed it softly within her box of memories.  When that was done, she returned the box to its hiding place and covered it up with the floorboards.  No matter what her stepmother did, she would never be able to tarnish her memories of the ball, nor her memories of her father, nor her mother.

Thus, Ella was able to rest peacefully for the first time in a very long time.

And with that rest came a sort of clarity; the sort that one doesn’t get until a long sleep without being disturbed by ringing bells, shouting stepsisters, or commanding stepmothers.

It was that last absence that struck Ella the most.  Because after her realization from the past several days, she thought back on what Lady Tremaine revealed to her and had just another realization.  Because there had never been a time since the Lady had entered her father’s household that she’d truly considered Ella a daughter, and therefore never treated her like one.  And after the woman’s outburst during their last confrontation, the reason behind it was clear.  It did not excuse the Lady Tremaine’s actions and nor did Ella dismiss any of the mistreatment she’d endured over the years.  But even still, it offered insight and understanding as to why Lady Tremaine was who she was and what she did.

Though she never had before, with the understanding that Lady Tremaine may just have lost as much love as she and suffered just as much as she, albeit in a different way, Ella realized that should she not have had her own mother and father to teach her the virtues of courage and kindness, it was possible she could’ve ended up similar.

And what could Lady Tremaine do to her, now?  Ella had faith in herself and her resolve.  And she would always keep the memories she has of Kit and her childhood.  Though she would never excuse her actions, she did not wish to condemn the woman even further than her own cruelty had.  Perhaps, it was time to be kind in another way.  Perhaps it was time Ella gave herself the kindness she deserved, and Lady Tremaine the same.

And if she ever felt ready to, maybe soon or perhaps in the far future, it might be possible to forgive her.  After all, forgiveness was a great kindness and a great gift, both for the giver as well as the receiver.  And if it could help them both, help them all, Ella very much wished for the chance to forgive.


End file.
